A practice of drinking beer out of a tube at the bottom of a funnel originated in the late 1960's when funnels and clear PVC plastics became readily available to the general public. In this regard, beer drinkers attached clear PVC distribution tube to the neck of a funnel which increased the speed with which a beer could be consumed.
A term in the relevant art which refers to an apparatus for drinking a fluid (normally beer) faster than one could consume the fluid when conventionally dispensed into the recipient's mouth from a can or bottle is known a “bong” and the act of doing so as “bonging”. A “bong” is built from items usually found at automotive, hardware and home improvement stores, for example funnels (as may be, for example, used for oil) and hose clamps to secure the PVC distribution tube to the neck of the funnel.
In operation of a “bong”, beer is poured into the open mouth of a funnel and exits out the narrow neck portion thereof into a flexible PVC distributing tube attached thereto. During pouring, the recipient (a “bonger” in the parlance of the relevant art) holds the funnel and the end of the distribution tube at relative elevations so that the beer cannot exit the distribution tube and flow out on to the ground. Next, the recipient places the end to the distribution tube into his/her mouth and then raises the funnel and/or adjusts the shape of the distribution tube, so that, with open throat, the beer flows freely under the urging of gravity into the stomach. Importantly for this to work as described, the mouth of the funnel must be freely open so that vacuum is not generated in the funnel as the beer “bong” process ensues. This act of “bonging” became very popular in the United States with college students and also became a hit at parties because it is a fun spectacle to watch.
Beer “bongers” have also pushed store parts to their limits by attempting to enhance the functionality of beer “bongs” to include simultaneous multiple person beer “bonging”. In this regard, commercial beer “bongs” have now come onto the market featuring PVC distribution tubes connected to a manifold system that simultaneously distributes beer to multiple “bongers”.
Unfortunately, all efforts to create a beer “bong” suitable for simultaneously distributing beer to multiple “bongers” have failed for a number of reasons: 1) differing beers poured into the funnel become commingled; 2) the manifold system is flawed in that the distribution tubes are commonly connected to the funnel, so that an equal amount of beer cannot be equally distributed to each “bonger” even if “bongers” are careful in how they tilt the funnel to distribute beer to each distribution tube; and 3) the number of distribution tubes requires a similar number of users, which number cannot be changed lest some beer will be undesirably delivered into unused distribution tubes from the funnel if not enough “bongers” are present to drink from all the distribution tubes.
Accordingly, what remains needed in the art is a liquid dispensing apparatus (a beer “bong”) which provides for simultaneous dispensing to multiple drinkers, wherein the fluid distribution is equitable as among the drinkers, and accommodates only those who are actually drinking independent of the number of distribution tubes.